Are Becker and Fagen as picky on the road as they e reputed to be in the studio?
You know, I worked with Walter in the studio and despite whatever legends or stories have gone around … I found him to be a real gentlemen and lots of fun to work with. They’re perfectionists. I wouldn’t use the word picky. Picky somehow connotes that they focus on miniscule things that might not be so important. They are specific as to what they want and what they hear. At the same time they’re very generous in letting things happen up there. So they’re not control freaks. And I’ve worked with musicians who are control freaks. What’s the playing been like? It’s really fun. I never knew how much fun it could be to play a bass drum on 1 and 3 and a snare drum on 2 and 4. Geez, I felt that years have gone by and I’ve missed something that a lot of other drummers have known. And, it’s not easy to do … to get it lay right. But it’s just as satisfying as the interactive Jazz drumming that I like to do. And in some ways it’s more satisfying. It just really feels good. I started playing p
